Thursday, June 14, 2012
Republicans - the middle-aged ones, at least - always have Ronald Reagan. Mitt Romney / Ronald Reagan. George W. Bush / Ronald Reagan. It's like connect the dots, but they never connect for me. The gap between Reagan's out-sized reputation & his actual achievements still boggle my mind. Yeah, yeah you say he was great, but would you please remind me what he did? Oh, he "restored America's faith in itself." How did he do that? The Hollywood way. Keep our eyes on the screen, ignore the uncomfortable seat, the fake butter on the popcorn, & the fact that the movie isn't all that good but we have to like it because of what we paid at the box office & the refreshment stand. It's the paradox of Republican success: Focus on making the rich richer, let everyone else struggle along, & somehow make us like it & wish they'd keep doing it.
We rant on about issues, but as with Reagan, what we really want is a comforting abstraction. Scream on about Big Government Socialism. What gets me is that the "conservatives," those defenders of individual freedom, have no problem with living in a National Security State where every cell phone call is recorded, every internet search monitored, every movement on the street captured on camera; where we have secret prisons & torturing for information is o.k., & nobody gets mangled in Afghanistan unless they "volunteer; " where collective bargaining - the many uniting to stand up to ruthless power - is outlawed (Men died by the thousands in WWII believing they were defending the American right to collective bargaining); public school systems dismantled because they're too "free" & too expensive & handed over to corporations who promise to run them more "efficiently." Hell, they instituted it, it's their idea. & neither our "liberal" President nor his "conservative" opponent have any problem with it. The rationale: If you're an honest, decent, patriotic American, you have nothing to worry about. How about being against it because you're an honest, decent, patriotic American?
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
We rant on about issues, but as with Reagan, what we really want is a comforting abstraction. Scream on about Big Government Socialism. What gets me is that the "conservatives," those defenders of individual freedom, have no problem with living in a National Security State where every cell phone call is recorded, every internet search monitored, every movement on the street captured on camera; where we have secret prisons & torturing for information is o.k., & nobody gets mangled in Afghanistan unless they "volunteer; " where collective bargaining - the many uniting to stand up to ruthless power - is outlawed (Men died by the thousands in WWII believing they were defending the American right to collective bargaining); public school systems dismantled because they're too "free" & too expensive & handed over to corporations who promise to run them more "efficiently." Hell, they instituted it, it's their idea. & neither our "liberal" President nor his "conservative" opponent have any problem with it. The rationale: If you're an honest, decent, patriotic American, you have nothing to worry about. How about being against it because you're an honest, decent, patriotic American?
